WBUR CommonHealth: Speaking to your doctor about how you want to die may be as hard as (or even harder than) talking to your family.
So, the folks who created a kit to help you start talking about death with your loved ones, while sitting around the kitchen table, are introducing the next iteration of “The Conversation:” How To Talk To Your Doctor.
A companion to the original Conversation Starter Kit, (which my blog partner Carey Goldberg used to talk to her father about death and dying) the new kit offers a detailed framework with plenty of helpful tools for the tough discussion. There are worksheets, sample scripts, a glossary of key terms, specifics about what it’s okay to say and clear, factual information on how to talk to your doctor, nurse or another provider about your end-of-life wishes, fears and concerns. (Examples: What to say if your health care provider doesn’t want to talk about it; What to do if your two doctors have conflicting opinions or if you disagree with your siblings.)